HYDERABAD: Telangana State Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, who is also the Chairman of the HighPowered Committee, which has been constituted for the submission of report on the Catchment Area Landfall within the purview of Osmansagar and Himayatsagar, filed an undertaking in the Telangana High Court on Saturday. The CS filed an affidavit and submitted that best endeavour would be made to abide by the conditions and timelines recorded in the HC order.
A division bench of the High Court on August 26, 2021, had observed, “The Chairperson of the High-Powered Committee shall file an affidavit within one week undertaking, inter alia, to abide by the conditions and the timelines recorded herein above”.
It may be recollected that “GO 111 dated March 8, 1996, was issued by erstwhile government prohibiting constructions near Himayatsagar and Osmansagar, and their catchment areas within a radius of 10 km”. As many as 87 parcels of lands fall within the purview of GO 111 and owners of those land parcels have been seeking a relaxation from the order’s purview.
Though the High-Powered Committee was constituted by the Telangana government vide GO.Ms.No. 839 Municipal Administration Department dated December 7, 2016 to examine the GO.111 dated March 8, 1996, neither the minutes of the meetings nor its report have not seen the light of the day.